Egg Hunt Just A Sign Of The Times

How about that ill-fated egg hunt last Saturday. Can you believe it?

Denise Beno, activities director for the Warsaw Parks Department, organized the 12th annual egg hunt.

Things got a bit out of hand.

Parents - not kids - were pushing, shoving and swearing and generally acting like 2-year-olds.

Park workers, who attempted to keep people behind the ropes before the hunt, were berated by obnoxious parents.

Parents are supposed to stay behind and watch as their child picks up eggs - a simple egg hunt rule. But parents broke the rule in droves, gathering eggs for their children at breakneck speed and running over anyone who got in their way.

One mom, who wrote a letter to the editor of this newspaper, told of how her niece was pushed to the ground by an adult who then stole the little girl's only Easter egg.

All this for what? Plastic eggs? Give me a break.

Of course, not all participants at the egg hunt were out of control.

But enough of them were out of control to prompt Beno to cancel the activity in the future.

It's unfortunate that the innocent must suffer with the guilty, but if people act like that, they don't deserve to have fun.

I hope these people learn something. I hope they realize that they ruined the fun for everybody. That's not likely. People like that generally don't recognize the fact that they're idiots.

But the whole mess really isn't all that surprising to me.

It seems there is a general loss of civility among folks these days.

At least nobody at the egg hunt got shot. You know, if you accidentally cut someone off on the highway you're risking you're life these days.

Not many people smile and say hello on the street anymore. Well, I suppose in Warsaw they still do, but if you go somewhere just a little bit bigger they don't.

People behind you in the checkout line glare at you if you have the audacity to ask for a price check. The clerk glares at you, too.

Lots of people seem as if they don't want to take the time to do stuff right. They just want to get it done as quickly as possible.

People just generally seem impatient. I think it's because of our lifestyles.

I'm caught up in it, too. My wife and I take turns flying home from work just in time to get the kids off to the next practice, event or activity.

Relaxed family dinners are rare. There never seems to be enough time or enough money.

I think lots of people feel like they need to slow down. But they can't. There's too much going on. Too many bills. Too many obligations. Too many responsibilities.

So they get grumpy.

It's pretty sad when the city has to cancel a kids' event because of the selfish behavior of parents. Especially when the event takes place in conjunction with Easter - the cornerstone of Christianity.

Sadder yet is the fact that it's just a sign of the times.